Statement released by the North American Man/Boy Love Association on
NAMBLA's status in ILGA, November 15, 1993. Contact: Bill Andriette.
NAMBLA PO Box 174 * Midtown Station * New York, NY 10018
NAMBLA Affirms Membership in ILGA
-ILGA's members continue long-standing support of man/boy lovers in face
of attack from US government and right wing, and ILGA secretariats.
NAMBLA has been a member of the International Lesbian and Gay
Association for 10 years. We've been continuously active in ILGA longer
than any other US organization. NAMBLA delegates to ILGA helped write
ILGA's constitution, its official positions on the sexual rights of
youth, and its stands against sexual coercion and corporal punishment.
We are proud of our contributions in making ILGA a stronger voice for the
international gay and lesbian movement and for sexual justice.
In spite of this proud history, four of ILGA's six secretariats,
meeting in New York November 5-7, have request NAMBLA to resign and stated
that they will seek its expulsion by the general membership this summer
unless it complies. This small administrative body individuals issued press
releases on November 7 stating that ILGA "condemns pedophilia" and that
NAMBLA's "political aims... are in direct contradiction" to those of ILGA.
In particular, the statement cites NAMBLA's opposition to age-of-consent
laws as a tool for protecting young people from sexual coercion.
These statements by the secretariats' committee are a craven and
dishonest attempt to satisfy demands by the US Mission to the UN. On
October 16, the US Mission's Bisa Williams-Manigault sent a letter to
ILGA stating that the US will seek ILGA's removal from the UN's Economic
and Social Council (ECOSOC) unless ILGA "dissociate[s] itself from NAMBLA
and other affiliate organizations whose objectives," in the opinion of the
US government, "are not consonant with UN human rights activities." In
addition, Williams-Manigault has told the press that to meet US demands,
ILGA would have to expel at least two other organizations. The Dutch
Vereniging Martijn and a US group called Project Truth along with any
other member organization that has expressed support for NAMBLA's
positions.
The ILGA secretariats' statement contradicts the positions
ILGA has adopted over the course of a decade, and distorts NAMBLA's
platform.
ILGA's current positions on man/boy love and pedophilia are
explicit:
-- In 1985, ILGA adopted a position on "Age of consent/Paedophilia/
Children's Rights" that urged member organizations to "lobby their
governments to abolish the age of consent law" so long as there is
"adequate protection for youth from being sexually abused without
the age of consent law."
-- In 1986, ILGA adopted a position that says the group "supports
the right of young people to sexual and social self-determination."
-- In 1988, ILGA declared "this conference recognizes that existing
same-sex age-of-consent laws often operate to oppress and not to
protect; that in many countries, existing laws on sexual coercion
and rules of evidence also often operate to oppress and not to
protect; that therefore member organizations are urged to consider
how best children, adolescents, and people of all ages can be
empowered and supported against both sexual coercion and sexual
oppression and to work towards that end."
-- In 1990, ILGA "calls on all members to treat all sexual
minorities with respect and to engage in constructive dialogue with
them. In another position adopted that year, ILGA declared that it
"supports the right of every individual, regardless of age, to
explore and develop her or his sexuality."
ILGA has also taken strong stands against sexual coercion. NAMBLA
helped write these positions, and our delegates supported them in the General
Assembly, contrary to what the ILGA secretariats imply.
-- In 1990 ILGA adopted as an official position that "Major power
imbalances create the potential for child abuse. ILGA condemns the
exploitative use of power differences to coerce others into sexual
relationships."
Every one of the resolutions cited above was adopted by at least
an 80 percent majority of ILGA delegates; many were adopted unanimously.
Their status as official ILGA positions is a matter of public record. Not
one of these positions has ever been revoked by ILGA's membership, and all
have been distributed to the media as recently two months ago by ILGA's
Information Secretariat as official positions.
NAMBLA fully supports ILGA's efforts to achieve consultative status
on the UN's ECOSOC, though we did not play any role in attaining that status.
Any attempt to link NAMBLA or ILGA with child abuse is dishonest and
malicious. But in an effort to save ILGA's ECOSOC status, one small project
of ILGAP, its secretariats have taken a dangerous step toward destroying what
ILGA is at essence: a diverse, democratic coalition controlled by its members,
not a small group of leaders.
Already, several ILGA activists and member organizations have
condemned the secretariats' actions and reaffirmed their support for the
participation in ILGA of man/boy lovers. The national German gay coalition
Bundesverband Homosexualitat has declared that it is "astonished and
embarrassed" at the secretariats' actions. "We are convinced that any
attempt to expel NAMBLA and others from ILGA will be rejected by the
vast majority of ILGA members," writes BVH executive committee member
Wolfram Setz. Another German group, Verein for Sexuelle Gleichberechtigung
adds, "The fight for... fundamental human right[s] must not be relinquished
or reduced because of the political pressure from any government. Where
would we end up if we made concessions in this respect? NAMBLA's objectives
are as far we know absolutely in agreement with... the UN declarations of
human rights and children's rights."
NAMBLA exists in a society where men get life prison sentences for
consensual relationships with teenage boys. NAMBLA activists currently face
ten years imprisonment under a new Canadian law for publishing writings
sympathetic to man/boy love. The editor of the Journal of Homosexuality,
Dr. John DeCecco, received death threats last month because it was reported
in the media that he serves on the editorial board of an academic journal
about pedophilia. Outrage and anger over these realities is widely shared
in ILGA. It is our hope that the ILGA's membership will not support the
secretariats' abject surrender of its basic values in order to hold on to
what would then become a meaningless symbol of their own self-importance.
- 30 -
In Liberation For All,
Roy
Roy Radow roy@panix.com ...rutgers!cmcl2!panix!roy
North American Man/Boy Love Association -For membership info & brochure
write to: NAMBLA, Dept. RR, PO Box 174, Midtown Station, NYC, NY 10018.
Send $5 for current Bulletin with amount credited toward membership fee.
Publications list available upon request.